National Security is Not An Excuse For Censorship and Surveillance

“If what we’re living through in this country is normal, we are all crazy.”

On my latest Global Voices article, I wrote about the latest censorship bill proposal and soon to be voted Security Bill in Turkey. I talked about what those bill could do and why and how Turkish government uses “national security” as an excuse for these.

The security bill proposed by AKP leaders looks scarier still, offering unprecedented powers to police and governors. The bill would authorize law enforcement to conduct telephone wiretapping for up to 48 hours without a warrant, authorizes police to arrest and detain anyone without a warrant up to 48 hours and stop and searches legal wherever police can find “reasonable doubt” of innocence.